For many years I dreamed of living in an intentional Christian community, a new monastic neighborhood of some sort with a rule of life and shared rhythms of work and prayer. Sadly, I fell into the trap Bonhoeffer warns against, of loving the dreamof Christian community more than the community itself. This kind of dreaming undermines community and can lead to resentment because no one — not God, others, nor (most painfully) yourself — can live up to the imagined ideal. It’s a bummer.

But there is also a healthy way to approach intentional Christian community, a way that prioritizes people above plans. Whenever I see someone doing that — especially if they’ve been living in community long enough to really understand the cost — I pay attention.

Jill Weber is such a someone. She helped found and lead a New Monastic Community in Canada for 17 years. And she is the Global Convener of the Order of the Mustard Seed, a dispersed lay ecumenical religious order that has begun establishing a residential center.

It’s true that most of us will never live in a monastic community, but the insights Jill shares on this week’s podcast are relevant to all of us on the Way: bearing one another’s burdens, making worship a priority, following an unpredictable Rabbi, and cultivating spaces where Jesus is loved (whether that be in a prayer room or a living room).

So, Father, help us to dream well and desire rightly. Grant us grace to love people more than plans, and to love you above all. Our only chance of doing this is through Jesus, on whom we are utterly dependent. Amen.